Dot Hack: Repairations
by Dusk Ado
Summary: Ovan has activated the 2nd Rebirth and plunged THE WORLD into the past. Now Haseo has a chance to relive his life a different way. Some Haseo x Atoli. NEW CHAPTER IS UP!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Dot Hack or any of the characters except Ado (and some others that will be introduced later)  
Warning: Possible spoilers from any dot hack or dot hack GU game, you have been warned 

DOT HACK REPAIRATIONS

Prologue

* * *

Three weeks after Haseo and Atoli had met up with Shino at the Hulle Grandz Cathedral Haseo received an e-mail from an anynomus sender instructing him to invite Shino and return to DELTA HIDDEN FORBIDDEN HOLY GROUND.

Not knowing what else to do, and being uncurably curious, Haseo decided to follow the sender's instructions and invite Shino to the Hulle Grandz Cathedral.

Haseo sent an e-mail to Shino, and immediately got a reply.

To Haseo:  
So, you got the e-mail too? I'm not sure about this, but I've got this feeling that we should go.  
I'll be waiting at the Chaos Gate in Mac Anu, don't be long!  
Shino

_What?_ Haseo thought _Now? But it's two in the morning- oh yeah, time difference  
_A.N. Shino moved away from where she used to live, there's a 5 hour time difference between her and Haseo

Dear Shino:  
Sorry, but can this wait for a few hours so I can get some sleep?  
Haseo

He didn't wait for a reply from Shino, but simply flopped down on his bed. Too tired to turn even off his M2D, he was asleep in a second.

Little did he know what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

A.N.: so, how's the Prologue? Plz review, it's my first Fanfic, so no flames, unless you have a VERY good reason! 


	2. Ovan's Gambit

Disclaimer: as stated in the prologue, I don't own dot hack 

DOT HACK REPAIRATIONS

CHAPTER 1

OVAN'S GAMBIT

* * *

DELTA HIDDEN FORBIDDEN HOLY GROUND

"So why are we trusting this e-mail again?" Shino asked for what felt like the millionth time since they'd met in Mac Anu.

"I TOLD you, we don't have anything better to do, and who knows? we might get a lead on where Ovan is." Haseo exclaimed in frustration.

Shino looked saddened and Haseo regretted what he'd said.

"Shino," he said gently, "don't worry, we'll find him."

"wha-yeah! Of course we will!" Shino sounded more upbeat as they opened the giant doors of the cathedral.

"When do you think we'll find Ovan, Haseo?"

Before Haseo could answer, another voice did that for him.

"A lot sooner than you planned."

A.N. Okay, I KNOW the chapters are short, but they'll get longer, just keep reading ;D

"Ovan!" Shino gasped, "you're alright!"

"To a certain extent, yes." Ovan replied

"'To a certain extent'? What the hell does that mean?" Haseo demanded.

"CC Corp has blamed the whole "AIDA and Cubia" incident on me." Ovan said with anger, "I'm shortly to be imprisoned."

"WHAT!?!?!" Haseo roared in incredulity, "that's the most screwed up, idiotic thing I've ever heard in my life!"

"that's terrible!" Shino whispered, "Ovan, is there any way that we can help you?"

"Well, actually, that's why I called you here in the first place." Ovan stated.

"So that we can help you?" Haseo asked, "How?"

"The Rebirth"

"The Rebirth?"

"The Second Rebirth"

"the second-"

"YES!" Ovan growled in frustration, "We're running rather short on time here, so can you let me explain?"

"Sure!" Haseo said aghast, Ovan never got angry like this.

"The second rebirth is a program that distorts time itself, if used we'll be back in the past."

"how far?" shino asked fearfully

"The day that Haseo fought Azure Kite in this very Cathedral, but you won't be camatose, and We'll all remember what has already happened."

"you mean everyone else will forget?" Haseo gasped.

"yes, only a few with close ties to Haseo and myself will remember the events that have come to pass."

"The question is," Ovan paused, "Haseo, are you willing to start over as the Terror of Death in order to spare me a horrible fate?"

"Ovan! I'd do almost anything to save you from death, online or off." Haseo stated forcefully.

"well then, let's get started!" Haseo said, but noone replied, as he was on a cliff, overlooking Bordeaux and her minions in the process of PKing.

* * *

A.N. Yes, the second rebirth is a travel into the past, with Ovan and Haseo struggling to right the wrongs of the world.  
Don't like it? TOUGH, than don't read it, otherwise, please send a review.

To: SuperHyperNekoNinjaofDoom if you happen to read this, yes, it's me Riku, and I'm waiting for the Anime Club Fanfic Account to come up.


	3. The Second Rebirth

Disclaimer: To all you illiterate fools who didn't read the previous disclaimers: I DON'T OWN DOT HACK!!! 

DOT HACK REPAIRATIONS

CHAPTER 2

The Second Rebirth

Haseo blinked in shock, the situation was exactly as he remembered it. He looked down _well, except that I've still got my Xth form._

He turned down the cliff, towards the PKers, and laughed to himself _Well, I guess I'll play along for now_

"What an idiot!" Bordeaux scoffed derisively as she kicked over the bodies of the unfortunate players that had fallen to her blade.

"I swear," she continued, "They just keep getting stupider!"

A pair of gasps and crashes drew everyone's attention away from the fallen PCs and directly to the new arrival, a white-armored player who's face looked awfully like...

"The Terror of Death!"

"IT'S HASEO!! THE PKK!!"

"What?" One of the PKers gasped in confusion, having never heard of the most feared PKK in THE WORLD. (A.N. Noob XP)

His confusion turned quickly to panic as Haseo drew out a set of twinblades and promptly charged the circle of immobile PKs. In a second two had fallen.

Haseo didn't waste a second as he immediately turned and attacked two more players.

A moment later they too fell to his blades. His appalling gaze fell upon Bordeaux and he dashed at his new target.

The target in question had only two seconds to bring her blade to a guard position before strike after strike was rained upon her. Her wrists began to buckle under the tremendous power of Haseo's onslaught.

"DIE!!"

Haseo looked up to see Negimaru and Grein dropping down upon his current position with amazing speed. He leaped aside at the last possible moment.

Bordeaux tried to take command of the situation.

"Surround him! Surround him and attack!" She screamed in desperation.

Haseo sheathed his blades and calmly waited for the PKers to surround him. Then he drew his Scythe and whirled in a devastating circle, cutting down everyone within range; and since he was surrounded that meant that he killed a whole lot of PKers in that strike.

Negimaru saw a possible opening and rushed in, slamming the scythe out of Haseo's hands and laughing gleefully.

He abruptly stopped laughing when Haseo launched a fireball from his hand and obliterated the bald twinblade wielder.

Grein tried to attack while Haseo was gloating over his last kill, but Haseo turned and drew his Centipede Legged Broadsword.

Steel clashed upon steel and the giant swords collided, but Haseo would not be denied, and he sucessfully pushed aside Grein's blade and, with a single stroke, cleaved the Edge Punisher in half.

To her horror Bordeaux realized she was suddenly alone against this virtual force of nature. In desperation she charged.

Haseo laughed as he drew his Dual Guns and fired a full clip into the oncoming Blade Brandier, causing the usually fatal affliction of death. (lol)

Haseo viewed the carnage around him and decided that he had one thing left to do.

"LaRip Maen!" Haseo cast upon the players who had fallen minutes ago to Bordeaux's band of goons.

The trio rose and regarded Haseo with shock.

"You're helping us? Why? You never helped anyone else!" One of the shadow warlocks gibbered.

"Well I've had a change of heart," Haseo claimed, "you're not complaining are you?"

Before the flustered players could respond Haseo had logged out of the area.

* * *

DELTA ETERNAL CITY MAC ANU

Haseo warped back to the DELTA server's root town and walked through a sea of resentful PKers, just back from the dead; their glares almost lethal.

Advancing towards the central district of the city Haseo glimpsed a green clad man and a shorter white-winged girl, also clad in green.

_well, well, if it isn't the Moon Tree Recruitment Brigade_ Haseo thought with a mental smirk.

He walked under the massive arch that separated the bridge from the central plaza, and was immediately set upon by Sakaki and his 'join Moon Tree speil.'

"You are the one who smells of blood and death, Haseo, the PKK."

"What do you want?" Haseo asked with an irritated air.

"What exactly does one such as yourself gain by being a PKK?" Sakaki asked, "What good are you doing THE WORLD, in the struggle to create harmony you PKKs are no different that the PKs that you dispise."

Haseo acted surprised, he saw a golden opportunity rising over the horizon.

"You know, I've never thought about it that way, but so what! Unless you have a better alternative that's the only way I know how to deal with PKers."

Sakaki mentally smirked, _now was the perfect time_!

"As a matter of fact Haseo, I do have another option available to you," Sakaki said, shifting to a more reasonable tone, "I'd like to offer you a position in Moon Tree"

"What's that? A guild?" Haseo asked, barely holding back a grin as he messed with Sakaki's mind.

"Yes, a guild that tries to prevent PKs and restore harmony to the world, but we try for more diverse methods than just PKKing."

"And WHY should I join?" Haseo demanded, then added, "I'm interested, so convince me."

This time it was Atoli who spoke up.

"w-well we try to help out new players who have had problems with Pkers and intervene if necessary, well Sakaki and Matsu do but I-"

"MATSU?!" Haseo squawked in 'shock' and 'indignation' "The CRIMSON DEMON is in MOON TREE?!"

"um... yes?" Atoli squeaked in fright, had she made him mad?

"That's great, that's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time, alright! I'll join." Haseo exclaimed causing Atoli to look away and blush, and Sakaki to look absolutely incredulous.

"You'll join? Are you serious?" Sakaki asked, an air of disbelief about him that was so strong Haseo could almost feel it as his own.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Haseo said calmly, his grin was going to show if Sakaki didn't leave NOW!

Luckily for him Sakaki did leave, running off through the arch towards the chaos gate.

"Sakaki, wait!" Atoli called, but to no avail, he was already out of earshot.

"What's the matter?" Haseo laughed, "I don't bite, unless you're a PK"

"Um... o-okay" Atoli stuttered, still intimidated by the fact that The Terror of Death was talking to her.

"You sure you're okay?" Haseo asked, "What do you do in Moon Tree, you personally?"

"Um well I don't do too much since I'm only level 3 and nobody wants to be my partner since I'm so weak, and without anyone to partner up with I can't level up any by myself!" Atoli admitted with an embarrassed air.

"I could help you out a bit," Haseo offered, "You seem like a nice enough person, do you have any particular area that you want to go?"

As soon as Haseo asked about possible favorite areas he regretted it. Atoli began listing about five hundred areas that she liked and began fretting over which one to go to.

"How about we try DELTA FALLING MOONBEAM'S MIRROR POOL?" Haseo suggested, as that was the best site she had listed, although it was only level 10, well; make do with what you've got.

"That's a great idea!" Atoli exclaimed, "can we go together?"

She then mentally repeated that to herself and gasped, then blushed and started stammering.

"w-wait! I didn't mean it like that! I meant will you go with me?" She blushed harder, "No wait! I mean-"

"I get the idea," Haseo said, cutting her off, "and I'd be glad to join you."

"Alright, let's go." Atoli said happily, thought she was still blushing furiously as she followed Haseo as he walked back to the Chaos Gate.

* * *

A.N. Well, That's chapter 2, WHEW! this is harder than I thought! I'd love to get more than one review per chapter if possible, Thanks 


	4. Uncaging the Bird

Disclaimer: I'm getting sick of trying to prove this because I might get sued, I am NOT the owner of dot hack, If I was I'd make an online version of it! ) 

DOT HACK REPAIRATIONS

CHAPTER 3

UNCAGING THE BIRD

DELTA FALLING MOONBEAM'S MIRROR POOL

Slash!

Yet another party of goblins and Armored Crabs fell to Haseo's blades.

Atoli sighed as she leveled up for the seventh time.

"What's the matter?" Haseo asked as he turned around to observe Atoli moping by the edge of the battle area.

"Well," Atoli reluctantly admitted, "I don't feel as though I'm really leveling up because you're doing all of the fighting."

Haseo mentally cursed, of course he was doing all of the fighting, she was a cleric! _But since when has that ever stopped her from trying to become stronger?_ He thought to himself, mentally smirking.

"Okay, I just thought that you wanted to level up for the sake of it, sorry," Haseo said with a hint of (sincere) apology in his voice.

"I'm sorry!" Atoli exclaimed, "I know I'm not the best fighter and that I'm weak and-"

"Never mind that," Haseo said reasonably as he activated a Halcyon Scroll, bestowing the spell Lei Zas upon Atoli.

"What's that for?" Atoli asked in bewilderment.

"It's your first offensive spell, so you can battle." Haseo explained to a surprised and grateful Atoli.

"Why are you just giving it to me like that?" Atoli asked, usually a player would want payment for any item, no matter how big or small.

"Two reasons" Haseo said "one: I've got 2 more, so it's no big deal. Two: you said you wanted to be able to fight for yourself, you'll be able to 'pay me back' by learning to battle effectively."

Atoli still looked confused, but decided to try out her new skill and promptly ended up failing a suprise attack on a group of goblins. She didn't seem to care though.

"LEI ZAS!" Atoli cried as she aimed the spell at the nearest goblin.

A stream of light rays poured from her staff and blasted the goblin off of its feet, killing it instantly. An interesting, and unintentional, side effect of the spell was that it's penetration effect allowed it to subsequently strike and destroy the other two goblins who, unfortunately for them, had lined up behind the first.

Atoli and Haseo both watched in astonishment as all three monsters collapsed and faded into columns of red light at once. Atoli levelled up again.

"That was amazing Atoli!" Haseo praised, concealing his astonishment at the Harvest Cleric's feat.

"I-I did it!" Atoli squeaked in excitement, "I actually did it! Thanks Haseo!"

"Don't thank me, you're the one who cast the spell." Haseo laughed.

"It killed all three at once!" Atoli observed with delight, "Is it supposed to do that?"

"It can, but you've got to aim well." Haseo informed her, then said with appreciation "It took me two weeks to master that spell!"

"Wow! Thanks Haseo, you're the best!!" Atoli squealed as she threw her arms around the startled Adept Rogue.

"Um..." Haseo gulped in shock.

Atoli suddenly realized what she had done and gasped. She quickly released Haseo and stepped back.

"Ohmygosh!" She desperately cried, "Haseo I'm so sorry, please don't be mad at me!"

Haseo wasn't sure whether he was mad or not, or even if he could act mad, his heart was still beating a 200bpm rhythm in his chest in real life. In THE WORLD Atoli's character's cheeks were beet red.

While Atoli was busy recovering from her almost suffocating embarassment, Haseo took the liberty of looking around, and sweat-dropped when he did so. Running towards them was a dog-like beast character and a green clad Blade Brandier. Oh great Haseo thought with a mental moan, _Here comes the Canardians (yes, I KNOW that doesn't spell "Canadians")_

10 seconds later the two approaching players approached Haseo and the dog-like character promptly wiped out, tripping over his own feet and whacking Haseo in the head with his grimoire staff as he went down. -1 HP for Haseo, ouch. (NOT!)

"What the hell is your problem!?" Haseo demanded explosively, eager to have them there to possibly distract Atoli from what had just happened.

"Help!" Gaspard, the dog-like character (DUH), begged, "We're being chased by some metallic-bikini-wearing FREAK lady named Bordeaux, AND SHE'S GONNA KILL US!!"

"Bordeaux is here?" Haseo laughed demonically, "Don't worry, I'll take care of her."

Silibus suddenly snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "Wait a second! I know you, I recognize that laugh, you're Haseo, the Terror of Death!"

Haseo sighed, he was starting to get tired of being called "Terror of Death" by everyone.

"yeah, whatever" Haseo said distractedly as he searched the nearby area for Bordeaux and her minions. After about 5 seconds he found them, they were trying to sneak up on them, and failing spectacularly.

"I know you're there!" He called in their direction, and heard several coherent curses.

"I TOLD you we shouldn't have chased those noobs!" Negimaru panted as he jumped up, not bothering to hide now.

"Forget it, just- ACK!" Bordeaux managed to say before a stream of bullets cut her, Grein, and Negimaru down in an instant.

"Tip one for the newbie PKer: Don't get caught arguing with your teammates." Haseo laughed as he holstered the dual guns. "Tip two: don't PK around the Terror of Death."

Atoli, Gaspard, and Silibus all laughed as well. Haseo turned to the latter two.

"well, you obviously know who I am, but I'm afraid I don't know who you are." he said

Gaspard spoke up, "I'm Gaspard and that's Silibus, we're the only members of Canard"

"What's Canard? A Guild?" Haseo asked

"Yep!" Silibus chimed in, "We're dedicated to helping out newbies."

"Interesting," Haseo suddenly had a horrible thought. he quickly removed his M2D and looked at the clock on his desk, "Crap! Atoli, we've been here for 2 hours, and we told Sakaki we'd be back 30 minutes ago!"

Atoli gasped in dismay, "Haseo, we've got to get there NOW!! Sakaki HATEs it when people are late for times they've set."

Haseo turned to Gaspard and Silibus, "sorry, but we've really got to go now, see you later!"

Gaspard watched as the two players warped out, then turned to Silibus and said, "Haseo is so COOL!"

* * *

DELTA ETERNAL CITY MAC ANU--- TEN MINUTES EARLIER

A teal-haired twin blade character clad in red warped into the root town via Chaos Gate and caused two players to run out of the Gate Area screaming.

_Weird_ thought Kite, then turned to face the two blade brandiers who had warped in after him.

"Okay Orca, you got us back into the game, now where are we going first?"

"Well, I thought we might go to DELTA HIDDEN FORBIDDEN HOLY GROUND and see how Aura's doing." Orca said.

"Wait, first we recieved an invitation to DELTA SETTING ETERNITY'S NIGHT MOON, that guild- Oh I forget the name- but we should go there first and see what's up!"

"Okay, but if we run into someone who thinks we're admins or something, or if ANYONE recognizes us you've HAD it Balmung!" Orca joked.

* * *

A.N. Okay, that's Chapter 3. Yes, Kite and co. are back in the world, and this will make for some hilarious scenarios:-D R&R please! 


	5. Support from the Shadows

Disclaimer: I don't own dot hack, if I did you'd be able to create your OWN character for the storylines, also, I'm hungry, but I don't think I need a disclaimer for that :-)  
A.N.: This chapter starts off with a totally different point of view compared to the last one. 

DOT HACK REPAIRATIONS

CHAPTER 4

SUPPORT FROM THE SHADOWS

DELTA LURKING-DUSK'S-MIDNIGHT WINGS

A shadow warlock, a lord partizan, and a macabre dancer were working their way through a high level dungeon, well for them of course. The three were around the level 45-50 range and had gained a confidence that wasn't all that difficult to understand, after all, they had never died on THE WORLD since they'd logged in for the first time, excluding the arena.

"Huh, these monsters aren't even a challenge to us" Nero, the Lord Partizan complained. "Gemino, when are we gonna get a real challenge?"

"I dunno" the Macabre Dancer shrugged, "I'd rather not get an unmanageable opponent, remember our goal?"

"Make it 6 months without dying in a field or being PKed, which will make the new record." Jormungand, the shadow warlock repeated dully, "We know Gemino, we know"

"But REALLY," Nero broke in, "when are we going to get a real challenge? I WANT A CHALLENGE!"

Gemino sweat-dropped, if this kept up they'd be listening to Nero complain until they reached the Beast Statue, _UGH!_

"A challenge you say?" the three players all whirled around to see a trio of players standing by the entrance to the next room, "well, well, I guess the Sniper Guild will have to deliver that challenge!"

Jormungand took a second to recover from the shock, and then analyzed the new arrivals.

The one at the fore of the group, the one who had spoken, was clad in what looked suspiciously like a special forces uniform, in his hands were a set of Dual Guns, the other two looked like dweebs out of an old-west movie, brown appearance and weird looking hair, Steam gunners of course.

Wait a second- DUAL GUNS?!? What the hell? How did the middle guy have DUAL GUNS?

"Alright guys!" the Dual Gunner called "GET 'EM!!"

The two parties rushed foreword and the battle began.

* * *

DELTA SETTING ETERNITY'S NIGHT MOON

Two parties of players warped into the Moon Tree Guild Area, almost on top of each other.

"Hey! Watch it you idiot!" Haseo roared at the Red-clad Twin Blade who had crashed into him.

"You watch it!" shouted the tallest character of the party, a Blade Brandier

"Um, H-Haseo?" Atoli squeaked, "Do you know them?"

Haseo was about to answer YES, when he realized he wouldn't be able to explain how he knew about the Azure Knights, and instead said gruffly, "Nope, never seen 'em in my life"

"I've heard of you, Haseo" Balmung stated, "As for the three of us, I am Balmung, this is Orca, and this is Kite"

"Kite, Balmung, and Orca?! The Azure Knights?!" Haseo demanded, and internally laughed at their reactions.

"Damn it!" Orca howled, "I TOLD you someone would recognize us! Wait a second... HOW did you recognize us? And how do you know that we were called the Azure Knights?"

"Um, let's see, Balmung of the Azure Sky, the Descendant of Fianna, Orca of the Azure Sea, the one who helps newbies, and Kite of the Azure Flames, the one who possesses the Twilight Bracelet." Haseo paused, and then mentally swore, he wasn't supposed to know about the Twilight Bracelet, judging from the look in Kite's eyes.

"How. In. HELL! Do you know about the bracelet?" Kite demanded in shock.

"Never mind, Atoli and I have to talk to Sakaki, see you later" Haseo said, before turning down the path to the warp panel inside the Moon Tree building.

Kite turned to Balmung, "Does this Haseo guy work for CC Corp?"

"No" Balmung said, looking as stunned as Kite that Haseo had known about the bracelet.

"Great, just great, then I only have one question. HOW DOES HE KNOW?!" Kite demanded rather explosively. A red anger vein appeared on his head.

"I don't know, maybe he's a hacker?" Orca offered, then winced as Balmung stiffened, "Oh yeah, sorry Balmung, I forgot how much you hated hackers."

"I doubt he's a hacker" Kite said, "He just didn't have that look about him. But I'd still like to know how he knows what he does."

* * *

DELTA LURKING-DUSK'S-MIDNIGHT WINGS

"Damn, they're strong!" Nero gasped as he tried to shrug off another shot from the steam gunner who was doing most of the shooting. Not much damage anyway.

"Geez Deadeye," the dual gunner seethed, "what are your bullets made of? PLASTIC?! Do some damage already!" Jormungand laughed loudly.

Then he turned to the laughing shadow warlock and began firing. The first few shots hoisted him into the air, then the following barrage inflicted a somehow critical amount of damage, about 95, and then killed him.

Nero charged the last Steam Gunner, but was hit by a Plectra Bullet shot by Deadeye. Then he was also blasted up into the air by the Dual Gunner.

Gemino was currently using her fans to deflect the shots from the Steam Gunners, but she was still taking a hefty amount of damage.

"You guys were looking for a challenge? Ha!" The Dual Gunner sneered, "You couldn't fight your way out of a level 1 field!"

As he continued to blast away at Nero he heard the sound of someone entering the battle fence. He ignored this until he saw a sword go whirling through the air, past him and aimed at Deadeye and Longshot.

"Look out!" He warned, but too late. The blade struck both of them and they went down. The Dual Gunner turned in rage to see who had dared to interfere.

He knew a moment of panic as he saw a black character and thought it was the Terror of Death, but then remembered that Haseo didn't wield regular swords, and he didn't have wings... wait, WINGS? How did a player have wings? No one in THE WORLD had had wings since Balmung of the Azure Sky, but that couldn't be Balmung, this person's wings were black.

"There are two things I really despise" the winged character said softly, deliberately, "One is a PKer, and the other is a Hacked PC, and from what I see you fall nicely into both categories; and that makes me REALLY mad."

"What do you want?" Cross-hairs (the dual gunner) demanded belligerently.

"Oh, it's nothing like that, well maybe it is." the winged player said contemptuously, "I'm just here to rid the area of PKers!"

"Bring it on!" Cross-hairs scoffed; there was no way that this guy would beat him!

"ORANI ZOT!" Gemino screamed from behind the Dual Gunner. A dark hole opened up under him and claws reached out to slash him. Distracted, Cross-hairs turned slightly towards the Macabre Dancer that he'd forgotten. At the same time the winged player charged.

Even as the length of the winged PKK's sword was sheathed in his chest, Cross-hairs had time to be amazed by the blistering speed that this player could use; it was as though he had used the speed of a Skill-Dash, but without the skill.

"You're... really fast" He said as he faded into a flash of red.

The battle fence faded away. The winged character turned to the fallen Nero and used a Revival Potion, bringing him back with full health.

"Thanks" Nero said, "You know, for helping us and all."

"Oh, it was no problem really." the winged character said dismissively. "I've had a bunch of tangles with the SNIPER guild."

"Who are you?" Jormungand asked rather rudely, and Gemino cringed at his bluntness.

"I'm Ado" The winged player stated proudly, "and you are?"

"Nero"

"Gemino"

"Jormungand"

"Nice to meet you all" Ado said

"The same to you" Gemino replied then asked "what were you doing in this area anyway?"

Ado shrugged, "I just happened to choose this area from the Chaos Gate."

"Well, thanks again!" Gemino said, and then jumped as she heard a loud PONG!

Looking to her left and right she guessed that Nero and Jormungand had experienced the same thing. She looked at the message she had just received:

**You have received Ado's Member's Address.**

Gemino looked up, intending to say "thank you" but Ado was gone.

* * *

DELTA SETTING ETERNITY'S NIGHT MOON

"It is with gratitude that we welcome the former Terror of Death, Haseo to Moon Tree" Sakaki proclaimed formally to the assembled players.

"Hi Haseo!" Zelkova called out merrily, disregarding that same formality and causing Sakaki and Haseo to squirm uncomfortably.

After Haseo had exchanged Member's Addresses with what felt like an endless stream of players he felt a tap on his elbow, actually it was more of a smack.

"Hey, Haseo," Zelkova of course "I'm gonna put you in Sakaki's squad as Atoli's partner... but can you keep an eye on Sakaki for me?"

"Um, sure" Haseo responded.

"Oh and... do you have this strange feeling of deja vu?"

* * *

A.N. Well, that's Chapter 4 folks, I've had over 400 hits to this story, but only about 7 reviews, so you're being lazy, you don't like the story, or the same people are just reading it again and again. PLEASE REVIEW!! 


	6. A Noble Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I don't own dot hack, if I did you'd be able to create your OWN character for the storylines, also maybe be able to customize a class 

DOT HACK REPAIRATIONS

CHAPTER 5

A NOBLE SACRIFICE

* * *

DELTA ETERNAL CITY MAC ANU

Ado warped into the Root Town of the Delta server and quickly headed out of the Chaos Gate area. Once outside he turned to the right and activated the warp point to head to the Mercenary District.

Seconds later he walked up to the Bounty Hunter Vital Vista and checked his progress. He received 20000G and the "Sword of Shadows"

_Excellent!_ He thought, _I've got a full set now._

Walking out of the alleyway he noticed a player in red running past, heading towards the weapons shop. The player was looking around frequently, as if amazed by the graphics of the town.

Then Ado noticed the marks on the character's pants and a slight graphics distortion around his right wrist. _well, well what have we here?_ he thought before following Kite.

* * *

DELTA SETTING ETERNITY'S NIGHT MOON

"Hey, hey Atoli!" Haseo called as he ran after the downcast Harvest Cleric. she turned to face him and her face brightened.

"Oh! H-hello Haseo" Atoli murmured, not meeting his eyes.

Haseo paused as he thought out what to say next.

"I've been assigned a formal position in Moon Tree!" He finally declared

"Wow Haseo, that's great!" Atoli exclaimed

She sounded and looked happy, but Haseo was picking up an aura of sadness from her. In a flash he knew what it was, or, at least he THOUGHT he knew what it was.

"Atoli," Haseo said so as to get her attention, "I've been assigned as your partner in Sakaki's squad, Zelkova said you needed a strong player to help you."

At that Atoli's face brightened again, this time with sincere joy.

"Haseo that's amazing! Now we'll be working together in Moon Tree" she smiled

A passing shadow warlock sneered and snidely said "You're pitifully obvious, do you really think the Terror of Death will ever like someone like YOU?"

One of Haseo's twin blades was at the unfortunate player's throat before he had drawn his next breath. His eyes widened and several startled players leveled various weapons at Haseo, not that they really believed they could beat him, just that he might be intimidated by sheer numbers.

"If I hadn't changed my policy of dealing with annoying players I'd have gutted you like a fish!" Haseo hissed, then moved to sheath his dagger.

Most unfortunately, one of the shadow warlocks thought that Haseo was moving to attack and fired a Rue Kruz spell at him. Haseo staggered, then growled.

Blistering rage filled him, rage so powerful it couldn't be his..._oh no_. Haseo thought in panic.

He had a feeling that he knew whose rage it was, and he hoped to Aura that he was wrong.

* * *

DELTA ETERNAL CITY MAC ANU

Ado was tailing Kite stealthily as Kite made his way back to the chaos gate. As soon as he entered after Kite he felt the blade of a dagger at his throught. The dagger belonged to Kite, and he was glaring at Ado.

_So much for the stealthy part_ Ado thought.

"Alright, who the hell are you? And why have you been following me?" Kite demanded.

"I'm Ado, and I find that odd graphics distortion around your wrist interesting" He replied, then added, "You can put that away, I'm no threat to you, besides you can't PK in Root Towns."

"Whatever," Kite growled as he slammed the dagger back into its sheath. "Just stop following me or I'll-"

"What in God's name- KITE?!" A female voice screamed incredoulously from the Chaos Gate.

Kite turned towards the Chaos Gate and gasped, "BlackRose?"

"Of course it's me, idiot! Seven years and you're still acting like a noob! Staring is RUDE, really, really rude!" She scolded, then grinned.

"Why are you here?" Kite asked in surprised delight.

"Well, I got an E-mail from someone named Zelkova asking me to go to DELTA SETTING ETERNITY'S NIGHT MOON, and I had nothing else to do."

"Cool! I'll go with you!" Kite said, then turned to Ado with an angry scowl, "If you follow us I'll-"

PONG!

The sound of a short-mail delivery was heard by all three players.

Each opened the message,

Come to DELTA SETTING ETERNITY'S NIGHT MOON immediately. Hurry before things get out of control here. Zelkova:

Ado looked at Kite "Looks like I have to go with you."

"Hmph!" Kite walked over to the Chaos Gate fuming, "Whatever"

He took the liberty of punching in the keywords for them all.

* * *

DELTA SETTING ETERNITY'S NIGHT MOON

_This can't be happening!_ Haseo thought in a panic as blinding rage filled him, _Not now!_

Haseo had never before considered the damage that Skeith could cause to other players if he went berserk near them. Now he was horrified by the possibilities.

_Now, strike now!_ _**NO!**_

Skeith's bloodlust was so strong that Haseo could almost feel it as words, if this kept up he wouldn't be able to hold Skeith back.

_I will not let him take control of me this time!_ Haseo mentally screamed at himself.

Unfortunately his anger and rage only fed Skeith's power.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Haseo screamed "Get back! All of you!"

Players began hurriedly retreating from the spasming PKK.

* * *

Kite, BlackRose, and Ado warped into the area and beheld a terrifying sight.

Haseo was doubled over, clutching his head and screaming as startled players were backing away with a haste that suggested that something awful was about to happen.

"What the hell? What's going on?" Kite demanded incredulously as players rushed past him and began warping out.

"I'm not entirely sure" Ado replied as he sidestepped a charging Edge Punisher, "But I've got a bad feeling about this."

Together the three forced their way through the crowd until they were closer to Haseo.

"Haseo!" Kite exclaimed, "Are you alright?"

Haseo looked up and glimpsed Kite, and suddenly a roar was torn from his throught and yellow energy began coursing around Haseo's body in appalling patterns.

Haseo screamed as the true Terror of Death took over.

"SKEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIITH!"

Kite froze, hoping to Aura that he'd heard wrong. _It can't be!_

With a roar Skeith broke free of Haseo's body and revealed itself to them.

* * *

A huge being of silver and grey hovered above the crowd, but most people seemed oblivious to it to Kite's surprise, eight swords formed what resembled wings on its back, and from them the Terror of Death created a scythe of pure lightning.

Kite looked at the being in horror, hadn't they already beaten Skeith before? How could he do it now, the new Skeith was obviously much stronger than before, so how did they stand a chance?

Skeith laughed and cast his hand foreward. The scythe reformed into the swords, which then combined to form what looked awfully like a Data Drain bracelet. Power gathered around the bracelet as Skeith took aim at the shadow warlock who had cast the offending spell.

"NO!" Ado shouted, he knew what would happen if the player was hit, total destruction of the character, and the player would fall into a coma.

The data drain tendrils blasted out of Skeith's arm, aimed with the intent to destroy.

Without thinking, or considering the consequences, Ado leaped. His jump carried him to a point between the helpless shadow warlock and the oncoming attack. He only considered the stupidity of his action at that point.

Caught by the power of the Terror of Death's enraged attack Ado screamed in pain as his character was devoured by the Data Drain. Suddenly the pain stopped, and Ado saw Haseo floating back to the ground.

"You IDIOT!" Kite screamed as he ran towards Ado's falling form. "Why did you do that?"

"Are you alright?!" the shadow warlock asked, horrorstruck, as Ado collapsed on the ground in front of him.

Ado grinned faintly. His vision was fading, _so tired..._

"I hope I'll be" Ado managed to say, before everything went dark.

* * *

A.N. Okay, that's it for this chapter. NOW: I'm currently waiting for a review with an opinion on what should happen to Ado. (no, he isn't gone for good :-P) Untill then there will be no updates!!

Also, check out the forum "Epitaph users and Guardian masters UNITE!" a dot hack forum created by yours truly, if you have questions about any of the dot hack games, or want to post a tip Etc. just post on the site under the appropriate section.


	7. Behold the Goddess

Disclaimer: YAY! I bought out DOT HACK and am starting my personal stream of edits, Haseo needs a santa hat sarcasm meter explodes No, sorry I lied: I don't own DOT HACK.

* * *

DOT HACK REPAIRATIONS

CHAPTER 6

BEHOLD THE GODDESS

* * *

Unknown: Kind Goddess's Haven

* * *

A winged Blade Brandier floated in white space.

_Dumb, that was dumb... is this what a coma feels like? Wait, am I in a coma at all?_

Take heart.

_What?_

Take heart great martyr, for you have displayed unparalleled kindness.

_Um...how?_

By giving up your life without hesitation to save another.

_Well, it's only a game._

Not quite, you must know what you have faced.

_Uh, no. What was that? And who are you?_

I...I am known as Aura.

_Ok, that doesn't really answer my- Wait! Aura. Aura the Goddess? His eyes widened._

I am no deity, merely an AI that exists in THE WORLD.

_Nice to meet you, I guess... but what was that big white and gray thing?_

The Terror of Death

_Haseo?_

**The sky in the East doth darken and air doth fill with mourning. From the chosen land beyond the forest, a sign of the wave comes. Riding the Wave is Skeith, the Shadow of Death, to drown all that stands.**

_Wait...Isn't that the Epitaph of Twilight?_

Yes, you know the Epitaph?

_Yeah...something like:_  
**_Yet to return, the shadowed one. Who quests for the Twilight Dragon _**

**_Rumbles the Dark Hearth, _**

**_And Helba, Queen of the Dark, has raised finally her army. _**

**_Apeiron, King of Light beckons. _**

**_At the base of the rainbow they meet _**

**_Against the abominable Wave, together they fight. _**

**_Alba's lake boils. _**

**_Light's great tree doth fall. _**

**_Power- now all to droplets turned in the temple of Arche Koeln. _**

**_Returns to nothing, this world of shadowless ones. _**

**_Never to return, the shadowed one, _**

**_Who quests for the Twilight Dragon._**

_And I know there has to be more..._

Yes.

_Well?_

**The Cursed Wave.  
Unknown where the Cursed Wave was born┘ After the stars doth cross the heavens, The sky in the East doth darken and air doth fill with mourning. From the chosen land beyond the forest, a sign of the wave comes. Riding the Wave is Skeith, the Shadow of Death, to drown all that stands. Mirage of Deceit, Innis, Betray all with the flawed image, and did aid the Wave. And by the Power of Magus, a drop from the Wave doth reach the heavens, and creates a new Wave. With the Wave, Fidchell, the power to tell the dark future, hope darkens, sadness and despair rule. Gorre schemes when swallowed by the Cursed Wave. Macha seduces with the sweet trap. Wave reaches the Pinnacle, and escape none can. Tarvos still remains with more cruelty to punish and destroy. And with the turbulent destruction after the Wave. Only a void remains. From deep within the void arrives Corbenik. Perhaps then the Wave is just a beginning as well.**

_So the eight monsters of the Cursed wave really exist?_

Yes.

_And Haseo is Skeith?_

No, his player's body houses Skeith, but he is not the true Terror of Death.

_Wait- stop, back to the subject, what's going to happen to me?_

Your sacrifice will be rewarded, I shall protect you from harm, but you will shed your old existance and shall be born anew. Aura murmured as she turned and faded away.

_What? Hey-wait!..._Ado struggled as his body shone like starlight, then darkness enveloped him.

* * *

Ado looked around him in shock. He was back in Moon Tree's HQ, and people were gasping and jumping back.

"Wow Atoli!" a kid's voice exclaimed "Your healing skills really payed off, he's waking up!"

"How are you?" The green-clad Harvest Cleric asked Ado as he lay on the ground.

"Fine" He said, and Atoli gasped as Ado forced himself to his feet.

"Um, we don't know how... but your, um, your character ch-changed." Atoli stammered.

"What?!" Ado looked down at his body, and noticed that it was true: it had changed.

Black cloth armor, streaked with purple and green, a red headband and...

"No wings?" Ado gasped as he twisted his head around.

"No" Atoli said sadly, "Your wings dissappeared along with your old character model."

Ado fumed in rage as he opened his menu and began sorting through his new character model's data.

_Level 107 Blade Brandier reformatted to Level 1 Karma Sage?! What's that? Weapon: Genji Anid Talismans?! What the heck happened to my character?_

"Whatever" He grumbled to himself as he stomped over to the Warp Platform and disappeared in a swirl of blue-white rings.

* * *

DELTA ETERNAL CITY MAC ANU

_What the heck happened to my character?!_ Ado screamed in his head.

You've been born anew.

"What?!" He shouted, drawing startled glances from nearby players.

Your character was too damaged to save, so I made you a new one.

"Who are you?! Get out of my head!!" Ado screamed aloud, now people were starting to edge away from him, even turning and running out of the Chaos Gate complex.

There was no further response from the voice.

"Whatever, at least you're gone for now..." Ado wheeled around towards the Chaos Gate

He glared murderously at the cowering players.

"What are YOU looking at?!"

"N-Nothing!" came the general reply.

"Yeah, I thought so..." He muttered darkly as he selected area words and warped out.

* * *

DELTA GATHERING REMNANT SOULS Level 1

* * *

_Well now, let's see what I can do,_ Ado mentally grated as he approached a lone goblin mage.

As the battle began Ado flicked to his skill menu.

_WHAT?! Only ONE skill?_ He moaned in his head, then took another look, _Wait a sec, I've never seen this one before: Fyr Karma?_

Whatever let's try it out... "Fyr Karma!" He shouted.

A talisman appeared before his hand, then flew from his hand and hovered in front of the goblin mage, the talisman abruptly glowed red and flew back to Ado.

**Obtained skill: Vak Don**

_AWESOME!_ He thought, _A skill copier! Let's see what else I can do!

* * *

_

THREE HOURS LATER

DELTA VENGEFUL FORGOTTEN LEGIONS Level 49

* * *

Gemino screamed in pain as she hit the battle fence again.

"What's your problem?!" She screamed at Cross-Hairs and an unknown Blade Brandier, who had hunted her down in an area for the FIFTH time that day. Seriously, were they stalkers?

"Oh, I'm just doing what I've been meaning to do for a while now!" Cross-Hairs laughed, then sneered nastily "Why don't you call for that winged wierdo to come save you?"

"Because I'm already here!" a voice said in a bored tone from behind the PKers.

"Ado! Help me!" Gemino cried.

"Oh damn" Cross-hairs hissed as he turned.

The Blade Brandier leaped at Ado, and shouted "DEVIL SWORD!"

"Fyr Karma!" Ado shouted, and a talisman flew out, striking the Blade-wielding character in the head.

"ow" he said sarcastically as he lost 3 HP, then he began laughing hysterically.

Because he was laughing he didn't notice the talisman fly back to Ado's hand and begin to glow. Nor did he notice when it transformed into a wickedly curved Blade Sword and began to crackle with energy.

He only noticed when Ado shouted his newly acquired skill.

"DEVIL SWORD!!"

The blade brandier had time to say "what?" before he was cut down.

Cross-hairs looked at Ado in disbelief.

"How did you do that?"

Ado grinned ferally, "that's for me to know and for you to suffer by."

Cross-hairs gulped nervously as Ado rapidly positioned six talismans in a hexagon before himself...

Ado closed his eyes and began chanting in a voice that rang with power.

"來...天...堂...的...火..."

"What are you doing?!" Cross-hairs gasped as the talismans glowed red.

"燒...傷...您...的...仇...敵..."

Ado's eyes snapped open as he shouted, "來的...火神...VULCAN!!!"

Red energy patterns coursed across Ado's body. Then crimson lasers were violently emitted from the talismans and speared through the air until they struck their target.

Cross-hairs was blasted up into the air, and could only watch helplessly as, from the darkening clouds soared a Ruby-colored dragon of terrible beauty. Wine red wings spread from a glittering body as scales reflected the glow of the now-present sun.

With a roar Vulcan opened its mouth, and from it spewed forth Blue-white flames in great plumes. The flames roared across the sky and struck the terrified PKer, consuming him in an instant.

Gemino gasped as Ado's spell came to an end and the dragon faded.

"What was that?" She squeaked in fright.

"A secret" Ado said frantically, "Please don't tell anyone about this, the skill's too dangerous to be widely used."

"Okay" Gemino agreed readily.

"Thanks!" Ado gasped, then turned and staggered away.

* * *

DELTA ETERNAL CITY MAC ANU

* * *

_What was the deal with that skill?_ Ado asked himself as he leaned against the wall of the Chaos Gate complex _It's like it drained my own energy, **my real energy** to use it._

It did.

_Oh no, not again..._

You have been given power over the Karma of the Elemental Dragons, you may summon them in battle, but at a cost of some of your own energy. I wouldn't presume to tell you haw to use this gift, but, exercise caution...

* * *

A.N. Ok, how was that? And befor anyone asks, NO Ado isn't an Epitaph User. His skills can be seen by all players, and require actual SP as well as his own life energy. Read and Review :-) 


	8. Demons and Shadows

Disclaimer: YOU ILLITERATE FOOLS!! I don't own dot hack and I NEVER WILL! I shall sob anyway... 

Dot Hack Repairations

Chapter 7

Demons and Shadows

* * *

OMEGA WARRING CITY LUMINA CLOTH

* * *

"Now it's time for the match to begin!" howled the MC with gusto.

Haseo winced, now he remembered why he hated being a spectator in the arena.

"The current arena Emperor Alkaid has received two challenges today!"

Haseo jumped up with renewed interest, _two challenges? Who's the party that's not Endrance?_

"First we have "Team Alkaid" verses "The Wings of Midnight!" The MC screamed deafeningly, causing many players to double over; clutching their ears and crying.

_For the love of Aura, somebody take his mike!_ Haseo moaned as he minimized the background volume setting on his M2D.

"Hey, you're Haseo, right?" A guy with a really long blue ponytail asked.

"Yeah," Haseo said, "Who're you?"

"I'm Kuhn, and I-" Kuhn began to say something but Haseo cut him off with a bored voice.

"Yeah, yeah, you're an Epitaph User, your Avatar is Magus the Propagation, you work for Yata and Pi, and you're interested in my 'special powers.'" Haseo was barely, just barely holding back a grin as he watched Kuhn's reaction.

Kuhn's eyes had widened to the size of saucers, multiple sweat drops were cascading down his face, and his right eye was twitching. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

"When you're ready to talk to me, feel free. But first I'm going to watch this match!" Haseo commented casually.

* * *

On Team Alkaid's side three female twinblade characters were warping in.

Alkaid: Twinblade Level 34

Shu: Twinblade Level 33

Wei: Twinblade Level 34

* * *

_Wow,_ Haseo thought, _For this tournament they look pretty strong, stronger than last time_.

Haseo then turned his gaze to the opposite platform, then had a sudden, horrible thought.

"Wait!" Haseo hissed in a panic-stricken voice, "Isn't Endrance an Epitaph User too?"

"YES!" Kuhn growled, having found his voice, "And if he challenges them there is a high probability that he will use his Avatar to win."

"Oh, nevermind" Haseo sighed with relief as he noticed that the player who had warped in was wearing black.

"NO!" Kuhn shouted loudly, irritating the nearby audience, "How do you know about his Epitaph?"

"Oh, I'll tell you about that later, if you don't figure it out for yourself, that is."

* * *

ARENA FLOOR

* * *

"What the hell does this guy think he's doing?" Shu demanded, as the three of them looked contemptuously across the field at their single opponent.

Wei snorted, "let's finish him and get this over with."

"Okay! Let's shred this guy!" Alkaid shouted as the three of them leaped forward.

* * *

Ado laughed quietly as he watched them charge at him.

_So unorganized_, He thought before drawing a talisman that transformed into the Sword of Shadows.

* * *

Haseo watched as the three girl twinblades bore down on their target who suddenly drew a sword.

As the girls reached the player, he disappeared.

_What?_ Haseo thought, then gasped as the player reappeared behind Shu and; spinning his sword casually, ran her through.

Wei screamed in rage as she saw Shu fall to Ado. She rushed at him raining a score of hard blows in his direction.

Ado sighed, bored, as he easily dodged around the girl who was intent on slicing and dicing him. He was so fast that he didn't even need to block a blow, he just avoided them all.

"Rgh! Stay still!" Wei screamed as she redoubled her efforts to disect Ado into bite sized pieces.

Ado abruptly stopped dodging blows and simply began to fend them off with his sword. With the seventh block he swung back, sending Wei sprawling.

"Rip Maen!" Shu was back up, revived by Alkaid's spell, but in critical health.

"As long as you three let me fight you one at a time..." Ado began, but had to pause as he backflipped away from Wei's second enraged charge. Another rain of blows was thrown, but Wei was getting tired, and her attacks began to slow.

"...I'll have an easy time beating you!" Ado finished as he sent the panting Twinblade soaring into the barrier with a single backhanded sidecut.

_He's right_, Alkaid thought frantically as she healed Wei and Shu, _He's stronger than each one of us!_

"Come on girls!" She cried bravely, "Let's take him down together!"

_That's right,_ Ado thought eagerly, _Bring on the entertainment! _

Shu and Wei tried to circle Ado as Alkaid began attacking him head-on. Ado waited a moment, then jumped and executed a mid-air backroll over Shu's head as she charged, thereby allowing Shu and Alkaid to crash into each other.

Ado landed, laughing, and promptly recieved a few slashes to the gut from Wei, who he'd forgotten about in his glee. Whirling around until he was behind her, Ado tried to impale Wei in the back.

With a crash Ado's blade was stopped by Alkaid, who had used her two blades to lock his sword in place.

"Yes! Work as a team, protect each other!" Ado encouraged as he let go of his sword and used a well-placed ankle sweep to wipe Shu off of her feet as she tried to lacerate Ado.

Leaping away he shouted "Lei Zas!" and beams of light poured from his outstreached hand, heading towards Shu.

Alkaid quickly shouted "Ol Repth!" using the last of her SP to increase her sister's Hit Points enough to withstand the oncoming spell, _I hope_, Alkaid thought.

By some miracle Shu hung on with 17HP left, and as Ado landed, she lunged and slashed him across his upraised arm.

Ado screamed in pain as his HP was sent into the critical range,

_All right_, He thought angrily, _No more playtime. _

Shu tried to sieze the chance to finish Ado off, but he leaped back and drew a glowing saphire talisman.

"Rue Corv!" Ado shouted, and a wall of ice materialized in front of him, isolating him from his trio of skilled opponents.

Shu was unable to stop herself, and promptly crashed into the wall.

Ado then drew out a midnight black talisman, which he threw in front of him.

"Ani Zas!" He shouted, flinging his right arm out.

Black lasers burst from his hand, smashing the ice wall, and heading for Wei.

Shu and Alkaid both jumped in front of the attack, blades crossed in a guard position.

Ado, seeing this, promptly canceled the spell by aiming it at the ground.

He then raised his hand and his discarded sword whirled through the air and back to his hand.

Shu and Wei immediately dashed to either side of him, and as he tried to dodge...

"Suvi Lei!" Alkaid screamed, desperately aiming a paralyzing spell at Ado.

To her immense relief the spell hit her target, though she began panicking when it was thrown off by his armor.

Wei and Shu had just aimed twin Gale Blade skills at Ado, who leaped out of the way.

_Damn it!_ Alkaid thought with frustration and a little bit of fear, _No matter what we do he's always a step ahead of us! _

"LaSuvi Lei" Ado proclaimed casually, paralyzing Alkaid's entire party.

_As if to prove my point..._ Alkaid began panicking in earnest as Ado approached her, while she and her sisters lay helplessly at his feet.

"Well done Alkaid" Ado said, before he raised his sword. Alkaid squeezed her eyes shut.

A squelching sound caused her to open them again, and she gasped at what she saw...

Ado's blade was buried in his own chest, and he gasped out, "Oops!" and winked at Alkaid before he faded out and died.

"The winner is Team Alkaid!" The MC roared, and Alkaid jumped, shocked back to the "real" world.

* * *

Haseo was gaping at the arena floor and the results of the battle.

"He had them beaten!" He howled, gripping the railing with astonishing strength, "Why did he surrender?"

"Well, maybe he...Oh forget it!" Kuhn hissed. "I've got no clue!"

A screeching sound assaulted his ears a moment later and he turned back to see what it was.

Endrance had just entered the arena and the spectator's railing was bending and almost melting under the obvious fury of the Terror of Death's incredibly powerful grip.

"Let's go!" He hissed as he ripped the railing up and discarded it...and it reformed where it was origionally.

"Go? Go where?" Kuhn asked in confusion.

"To your guild's home, yes, I do know about Project GU, and I'll tell Yata how I know if you'll bring me to him." Haseo growled, then added, "We already know what's going to happen here."

Right on cue pink energy patterns began surrounding Endrance's character...

* * *

Alkaid laughed as Endrance suddenly doubled over, shivering, while she, Shu, and Wei surrounded him.

Suddenly Endrance lashed out with his sword, impossibly fast, and all three of the girls, though they were at full health, died at once.

* * *

FIVE MINUTES LATER OMEGA WARRING CITY LUMINA CLOTH

"How did he do that?!" Alkaid howled to herself as she paced relentlessly around the rear plaza of the Arena. Shu and Wei had logged off and were busy fuming downstairs, leaving Alkaid to wonder what Endrance had done to win the match.

"He must have cheated!" She decided, "There's no other way he could have done it!"

Alkaid was devastated after her defeat, she had had to relinquish her Icolo Guild Key to Endrance and give up her Demon Palace Emperor Throne... to a cheater!

"He did cheat..." a soft voice murmured from behind Alkaid.

She whirled around to face a nervous looking Ado.

"What do you want?" She demanded.

"I know why you're angry, and you have good reason to be," Ado said

"Damn right!" Alkaid snapped, "But I want to know WHAT that cheater did!"

"I recorded the match that you fought with Endrance and found out how he won." Ado said before he pulled up a screen in front of his character.

"I don't know how he did it, but he didn't win legally." Ado finished as he found the desired file.

Alkaid leaned over his shoulder to watch as he pressed play.

The battle between her team and Endrance progressed exactly as she remembered it, untill Endrance doubled over. Then things began to get wierd.

"What the hell are those freaky pink lines around his body?" Alkaid asked in shock and confusion.

"Just wait, it gets better!" Ado said grimly.

Alkaid watched as a giant cat-like creature with a giant rose for legs appeared where Endrance's character was. It drew back an arm and slashed out with its claws in a giant circle, killing Alkaid and her teammates.

"What was that?!" She demanded in fury, _I KNEW he was cheating! _

"I'm not sure, but I intend to find out." Ado turned and was walking away when Alkaid ran ahead of him and blocked his path.

"While what, I sit back and watch?" She demanded.

Ado turned his head, avoiding her eyes, and muttered something.

"What?" Alkaid asked rather rudely.

"I said that I usually work alone" Ado said, "But if you want to help..."

Alkaid heard a PONG as she recieved a short mail.

**You have recieved Ado's Member's Address.**

"So when do we start?" Alkaid asked.

* * *

DELTA ETERNAL CITY MAC ANU

HOME OF RAVEN

"Okay spill it!" Pi screamed, maddened that Haseo wasn't giving her any information. "How do you know about Epitaphs and GU?"

"I TOLD you, I'll only tell that to Yata!" Haseo screamed back.

Multiple anger veins bulged out of Pi's forhead as she struggled not to MURDER this annoying kid who wouldn't listen to her.

"Look here, Haseo" She hissed, "I'm Master Yata's second in command and-"

"You're an old hag," interrupted Haseo, smirking and causing Pi's left eye to twitch involentarily and several more anger veins to appear on her head.

"Why you-"

"PI!" Kuhn shouted, "Calm down! We need to interrogate the kid, not kill him!"

PONG!

A short mail was delivered to Pi, she read it and seemed to visably calm down.

"Alright" She sighed with relief, "You're not my problem anymore."

"Huh?" Haseo questioned.

"Master Yata will see you now..."

* * *

A.N. OK, that chapter's done. If you think that this part of the meeting at Raven is funny, oh just you wait untill the next chapter. 

The Forum is still open, so if you like the video game series and want to share your knowledge, or ask for help, then check it out.


	9. A New AIDA!

N. I apologize for all of you who have waited for so long, here is the newest chapter and I promise that it's on an entirely different level….maybe…I hope…please?

You did ask for it!

Chapter 9

A new AIDA?!

XXX

"So you say that you've been in contact with Ovan…interesting." Yata mused to himself as Haseo stood before him. "That would explain your information, though I sense that you know much more than you are letting on, but I will not pry. I only ask that you tell me why you are knowledgable of the Epitaphs."

Haseo held out his right hand with the palm facing him. Yellow-gold energy patterns appeared upon his body momentarily.

"My PKK title is more than just a name, you know."

Without waiting for Yata's reply, Haseo strode out of the Serpent of Lore.

Yata stared after him in silence. Then he sighed.

"Terror of Death…you are interesting."

XXX

"Your meeting is over already?!" Pi sputtered as Haseo strode out of the Serpent of Lore. The Terror of Death simply smirked.

"Yeah, my meeting with your 'master' went rather well. Not that you should have expected anything different, old hag."

"DIE!" Pi howled.

Haseo sidestepped the enraged admin and slipped out.

Pi stood next to the Wise Grunty, trembling with rage.

"I don't care if you're ten TIMES my level Haseo…I'LL KILL YOU!!"

Haseo shivered as he logged out.

"I've suddenly gotten a sense of impending doom."

XXX

CC Corp Letter to all Players

XXX

We are pleased to announce the opening of several new servers and the re-vamping of several old. They are as follows:

Delta (Eternal City Mac Anu): 1-50

Theta (Celestial City Dol Dona): 51-100

Beta (Astral City Kama Elias): 51-100 NEW!

Sigma (Dual City Breg Epona): 101-150

Lambda (Desert City Tal Rasha): 101-150 NEW!

Epsilon (Golden City Fors Midas): 151-200 NEW!

Gamma (Conflicted City Leos Helba): 151-200 NEW!

Omega (Warring City Lumina Cloth)

Be advised that several conditions are now in place in each server.

Delta: Characters over level 50 receive stat penalties if they party with weaker players

Theta: An inexplicable item, known as "Adler's Key", has appeared in random stages. Collecting them may give bonuses to characters

Beta: Spells are increased in power, and magical characters' SP regeneration is doubled

Sigma: Bayonets are sold at a 30 percent discount and item drops are increased in fields

Lambda: Characters in "outskirts" of the area will suffer fire damage at regular intervals

Epsilon: Item drops are eliminated, except for mission completion, but G is increased by 75%

Gamma: PKing is legal and encouraged, especially prominent PKers will be offered status on the bounty list in exchange for rewards

XXX

[Omega – Warring City Lumina Cloth]

"I'm sorry Master Haseo, you are simply too high of a level to fairly compete in the Demon Palace Tournament."

Haseo fought vainly to restrain the twitching in his eye. He'd forgotten about the level cap, and was now suitably embarrassed. No characters above level 60 would even be accepted into the tournament.

"Fine," He mumbled, "Just let me observe. Can I request an E-mail for the first round of the tournament?"

"Absolutely, Master Haseo"

Haseo grunted and walked away.

Too bad for him, as he missed a very interesting team registering.

XXX

[Delta – Statistically Impossible Odds]

"You know," Haseo muttered, "I think that sometimes the people who come to PK in these areas are just mocking us. Statistically Impossible Odds…come on!"

Atoli trailed silently at his side. The area was a level 48 dungeon, so Atoli's level was causing Haseo some severe penalties as they crushed the various monsters in the area. Being in a darkness element area, the monsters were particularly vulnerable to Atoli's Lei Zas spell, which she had put to good use. The huge level difference had given Atoli heaps of experience, to the point that she had leveled up to Level 46 in just a few floors.

Sakaki had given them an order to check the lower levels of the dungeon, as a distress signal had come from the area only minutes before. The monsters in the area were no problem, dying to Atoli's offensive spells and Haseo's covering scythe swings. Morale was high since Haseo hadn't taken over the battle, instead opting to strike the foes away so that Atoli could finish them off.

Haseo finally got fed up with the latest batch of monsters and just used his Smoke Bomb to escape the area, swearing the whole way.

"Atoli, do you have any idea where the signal could have come from?" He asked once they had reached an area empty of monsters.

"Um y-yes" She replied, "Sakaki said that the signal was coming from the Beast Statue. It's right in front of us." She pointed to a closed Chim Door

"Of course," Haseo grumbled, "The Beast Statue. I don't know why I even asked, it's always the beast statue. Next thing you know we'll find an AIDA in the area…or run into some glitched monster or hacked player or- Atoli? What's wrong?"

Atoli had her hands up to her ears. "That sound!" She said thoughtfully, "What is it? It's not part of the background music."

Haseo poured five Chim Spheres into the door and tapped his foot as it slowly opened.

He blinked as he took in the situation. Then his mind caught up.

Within the Beast Statue room there was in fact a battle fence.

"Oh for the love of…Let's go Atoli!" Haseo commanded.

The two stepped through the barrier and rapidly observed the situation.

Hacked party on one side, Alkaid and some guy in black on the other…

"Looks like somebody started the party without us!" Haseo stated, drawing the attention of the fighters.

"Oh god!" One of the PKers, a Steam Gunner, shouted, "It's the Terror of Death!" He turned to his comrades, "We're in trouble! Take them out fast and run!"

"Got it boss!" A strange character replied. He was wielding a Gunblade in his left hand and a blade in his right. He aimed for Alkaid. "Take this! Dust Bullet!"

Haseo grinned.

"Level 3 Arts already? Don't be so hasty!"

The helpless character found himself directly in the path of Haseo's charge.

"Shit!" The Steam Gunner aimed for Haseo, "Tempest Blast!"

BANG!

Just as it seemed that Haseo would be hit, a blue-white barrier materialized in front of him and negated the attack.

"Idiot!" Haseo smirked, "Ghost Falcon!"

The steam gunner ended up dead after the first hit, and the over damage was probably enough to drive the point home. Don't PK.

The third PKer, a Lord Partizan, stabbed at Haseo, only to get the same result.

"Haseo! Move!" Atoli cried, "Lei Zas!"

The Harvest Cleric was disappointed when little to no damage registered.

The Partizan shrugged off the attack and lunged for Atoli.

RENGEKI!

"Whirlwind!" Alkaid smirked as she chopped at the PKer, dealing large amounts of damage.

The black-clad player followed up the attack on the Partizan while Haseo methodically demolished the Gun-Blade Dual Wielder. In a matter of moments, the two non-hacked characters had faded away, while the GBDW simply stood up unsteadily.

"What?" Alkaid shouted, "You should be dead! Your HP is completely gone!"

The player, Gullwing, simply giggled madly. "This isn't over yet!" He doubled over and shivered. "I've got a "power" that I haven't used in a while. You think you've won – HA! It's not over! It's not, it's not, it's NOT!!!"

Haseo watched in shock as Gullwing doubled over and leaked dark purple dots.

"AIDA?!" He shouted in amazement.

"This is my 'power'!" Gullwing shrieked, "And I'm going to kill you with 'it'!"

The dots consumed him and erupted into a gigantic…thing.

Due to Haseo's connection to Skeith, he could immediately identify his foe.

[AIDA (Procene)]

A four-winged crimson eagle with a long, plumed tail screeched across the field and slashed Haseo, Atoli, and Alkaid with its talons.

Both girls screamed and collapsed.

"NO!" Haseo shouted. He growled and gathered energy. "Come on, COME ON! I'm…right…HERE!"

A grin spread across his face as the familiar gold patterns appeared around him.

"SKEEEEEEEEEITH!"

The AIDA didn't even have a chance to reposition itself before a sparkling plasma scythe sheared off its long tail.

Procene shrieked in pain and fired several sapphire lasers from its mouth at the now-present Terror of Death. Skeith simply dashed to the side and raised its arms. Energy bolts hammered into Procene's wings until the AIDA simply froze, paralyzed by the sheer amount of damage.

Skeith needed no invitation and practically warped to Procene's blindside. A moment later the AIDA's left wing was hacked from its body as well.

Atoli, Alkaid –both having recovered- and Ado – for it was he – stared in shock as the…thing that Haseo had become systematically and literally cut its foe apart.

"Wha-what is that thing?" Alkaid gasped, "It's like that monster of Endrance's, but stronger!"

"Forget that!" Ado replied, "Where did that Phoenix thing come from?"

Atoli simply stared at the two titanic beings with a sense of inexplicable longing. Unknown to her, bright blue patterns briefly flashed across her body before fading away.

Meanwhile, Alkaid had carefully walked over to the severed tail of the AIDA and picked it up.

"Hey, guys!" She called, "What do you think this-" Her eyes widened as the rest of the phoenix's corpse crashed to the ground beside her.

"Alkaid!" Haseo's voice called, "Get away from that thing!"

Alkaid complied as a giant cannon-like thing appeared on the Haseo-monster's arm and fired a technicolored beam that proceeded to disintegrate the phoenix into a haze of crystalline pixels.

Alkaid was so shocked by her brush with certain death that she didn't let go of the AIDA's tail. She, Atoli, and Ado stared in silence as Haseo descended to the ground and returned to his normal PC body.

He took a few seconds to assess the situation, then sighed.

"So judging by your stunned expressions and the fact that you look ready to run, I'm guessing that you all saw that."

Three heads nodded in response and Haseo groaned.

"Well, this complicates things." He grumbled, "I suppose I should expl-"

"Whoa! What the heck is this thing doing?!" Alkaid shouted in shock.

Atoli winced and held her ears as the sound of boiling liquid filled the air. Haseo whirled to face Alkaid and gasped.

Procene's tail had dissolved into a swarm of deep blue spots, eerily similar to the black of AIDA. Alkaid dropped the mass of bubbling AIDA, only to have it hover in the air before her.

Then it struck her in the chest.

Alkaid's eyes widened for a moment and she let out an "Eep!" of shock as the blue bubbles engulfed her character.

"Alkaid!" Haseo shouted in concern.

The blob of AIDA writhed for a moment before going still.

Haseo growled and summoned the Epitaph patterns again, but a reply shocked him into stopping.

"It's okay!" Alkaid's voice rang out, causing Haseo to jump, "I'm alright!"

The AIDA cloud exploded and, without hesitation, Haseo rushed forward. He got about five steps before he stopped and stared.

Alkaid's character appeared outwardly fine; her expression was a bit perplexed and she had blue dots floating behind her, but otherwise she seemed unaffected.

Except that her hair had changed from red to turquoise at the tips, and she had ethereal wings sprouting from her back. Haseo blinked and the wings were gone.

Alkaid looked at her hand curiously as the AIDA whirled about her.

"What is 'this'?" She wondered aloud, "I can hear things that aren't here! 'It' is telling me things, things that I wanted to know…I understand!"

She turned to face Ado and placed her hands on her hips.

"How long were you going to wait to tell me that you were an AIDA too?!"

Ado blinked and smiled. Lines of static flashed across everyone's screens.

"Ah, I wasn't going to tell you until we encountered the Epitaphs in actuality. He-" Ado pointed at Haseo, "possesses the Epitaph of Skeith, the Terror of Death. He's not exactly the one I wanted to speak to, but this is as good a moment as any."

He turned to Haseo, his eyes black.

"I represent a rogue group of Artificially Intelligent Data Anomolies, commonly known as AIDA. You have come into contact with AIDAs before, and managed to absorb quite the large amount of data from different strains. I assure you that we are much different."

Suddenly he vanished and reappeared behind Haseo. Before the Adept Rogue could blink, Ado whispered into his ear.

"We were born from the Second Rebirth, Haseo. Your secret will be safe with us, but there is something you must understand."

Haseo's eyes widened as Ado continued.

"We are the neo-AIDA, a mixture of AIDA strains and Epitaph data. We are strong Haseo, stronger than you could imagine any simple AIDA to be. I personally contain strains of AIDA(Gatekeeper), and Epitaphs Tarvos the Avenger, and Innis the Mirage of Deceit. Thus my personality of hating PKers and hacked PCs and my need to help others." His voice dropped even lower, "Just like Atoli did before the Second Rebirth."

He smiled and spoke to everyone.

"Alkaid here has gained the favor of Procene. I wouldn't advise that you try to separate them, as Procene contains strains of AIDA(Victorian), and the Epitaphs Magus the Propagation, and Corbeneik the Rebirth. Thus her appearance as a phoenix...she's immortal. She appeared hostile earlier because of her host's rage and desire for power. Alkaid's curiosity gave her a powerful tie to Procene as she is supposed to be."

He turned his head and looked over his shoulder.

"Isn't that right…Ovan?"

XXX

Serpent of Lore

XXX

"Such an interesting development," Yata mused, "To think that there exists a rogue AIDA faction…but their power levels are most concerning."

He looked up neutrally as Kuhn and Pi burst into the Serpent of Lore.

"Master Yata! We have to do something!" Pi exclaimed, "I've detected an AIDA signal of incredible power in Delta – Statistically Impossible Odds! What's worse, scans show the presence of several Epitaph users and data fragments belonging to all eight!"

Yata smiled, "Pi, the situation is not one of concern. Please observe this."

The guildmaster of Raven pulled up the recording of Haseo's battle with Procene and smirked when Pi's jaw dropped. Kuhn simply looked impressed.

"He's already awakened his Epitaph?!" Pi sputtered, "And to such an extreme! The power of Skeith is so much higher than even my own Epitaph. It's as if-"

"Every enemy he's ever defeated has contributed to his growing strength." Yata finished, "It is the ability of the Terror of Death; the potential for infinite growth."

"But Master Yata, the AIDA-!"

"Those particular AIDA are none of your concern…" A soft, deep voice stated.

The three G.U. members whirled towards the doorway of the Serpent of Lore where a group of five stood.

Haseo, Atoli, Alkaid, Ado, and Ovan easily strode into the room.

"What in 'The World' do you mean 'None of our concern'?!" Pi sputtered.

"Perhaps I can put this into perspective for you." Ovan said as he lifted his right hand and slammed it down upon the lock on his left arm's seal.

A brief flash of light later the lock dropped from the contraption and Ovan's left arm burst forth from the confines that had held it.

Yata, Kuhn, and Pi stared in shock at the arm of Tri-Edge that Ovan had revealed. Haseo himself almost attacked on reflex, but calmed down slightly when he realized that the bubbles emanating from Ovan's arm were white instead of black.

"This is AIDA-An, part of the rogue faction of the AIDAs. Due to unforeseen circumstances, these AIDA were able to dig up remnants of data from the Epitaphs and integrate it with themselves. In essence, they can be seen as the Epitaphs of AIDA, though they wish instead to remove the infected AIDAs from The World instead of expanding their influence. This one here, AIDA-An(Tri-Edge) was formed from the destruction of the true Tri-Edge and absorbed data from my own Epitaph, Corbeneik." Ovan's eye twitched slightly as Tri-Edge bubbled up a bit. "Rather than ruthlessly kill, like its ancestor, the new Tri-Edge has helped me to find some of the other AIDA rogues. So far, we've come across four of them; AIDA-An(Tri-Edge) the Repentence, AIDA-Af(Noir) the Reflection of Purity, AIDA-Pro(Maxwell) the Guardian of Order, and the most powerful; AIDA-Cu(Procene) the Last Wonder."

The whole group's eyes widened.

"You mean the most powerful of these AIDA bonded with me?!" Alkaid said incredulously, "Why me? Why not someone else, someone stronger?" She gripped her shoulder suddenly as blue bubbles surfaced and began pouring out of her. They combined together and formed a body, one that was a photo negative of Alkaid with light blue hair, black eyes, and dark purple skin. Yata stared in interest while Kuhn and Pi looked terrified.

Procene spoke, uncaring of the stares she was receiving.

"The reason that I chose you, Alkaid, is the strong feeling that courses through your mind. You are curious, Alkaid. You want to understand and learn, yet at the same time you want to punish a certain someone who has wrongfully taken away your greatest pride. I have found a kindred spirit in you, Alkaid, and I will stand by you."

Procene gave a smile as her body dispersed into its amorphous AIDA state and assimilated back into Alkaid's body. The former Empress' eyes widened for a moment, then she smiled softly.

Nobody spoke for a few moments. Haseo, Pi, Kuhn, and Yata were shocked, Atoli was perplexed, and Ovan seemed interested.

"Well then," Ado stated, "I suppose that'll be it for me. After all, I've found a kindred spirit who could use my help as well."

Pi's attention snapped towards Ado.

"You're an AIDA too?!"

Ado smiled, "AIDA-Pro(Maxwell), the Guardian of Order, at your service…former member of TaN."

Pi choked.

"You didn't think that Ovan never knew about you and Yata did you?" Haseo smirked, "We figured it out long ago."

Ovan laughed gently. "I'm sure that you understand the reason for my abnormally large data quotient now."

Yata nodded, "Indeed, you were trying to contain the original Tri-Edge. It seems that our curiosity was quite dangerous, was it not?"

Ovan merely nodded, but then held up his hand in front of his face and frowned quizzically.

"I'm sorry, but something has come up. I must depart for now."

Cerulean rings obstructed Ovan as his body disintegrated.

"If you don't mind, we'll be going now as well." Ado stated, "Farewell, members of G.U…I doubt you'll come across me again. At least, not like this."

Yata and co. didn't protest as Atoli, Ado/Maxwell, Alkaid, and Haseo departed.

They made it to the streets of Mac Anu before Ado pulled the group towards the nearby boats.

Pong!

Haseo frowned as he received a message from Ovan.

* * *

Haseo,

There's something unexpected that has come up regarding Shino and Atoli. Bring Atoli with you to Hulle Granz when you have finished there.

Ovan

* * *

"…is your connection to?" Alkaid was asking as Haseo snapped back to the world around him.

Ado/Maxwell smiled.

"Who am I connected to? Why, Atoli of course."

Atoli gave a surprised "Eeep!"

"M-me?! But – but I'm-"

Ado cut her off.

"You wish for people to play fairly and get along, but at the same time you don't mind fighting for your beliefs. That is my purpose, and that has become your purpose as well. I can help you, Atoli. While my AIDA body is unsuited for fighting, I do have a very powerful ability. If you accept my aid I will protect you with all my might."

"Hey wait just a minute!" Alkaid began, but Haseo interrupted her.

"We'll discuss this later. Ovan's called us all to Hulle Granz. He says that there's something that he needs to tell us about Atoli and Shino."

Ado smirked and tossed a hand towards the water. Dark red bubbles erupted from his hand and formed a swirling portal.

"Let's go," He said, "This way's quicker."

XXX

Chapter END

I've recently played through Rebirth and Reminesce and just started Redemption again. I'm trying to get the Doppelganger equipment this time. I have the Own King and all the weapons except the DG-0. All I need is the Empty Self and Shadow.

So what do you think? I know that this definitely doesn't make up for the year+ wait on the fic, but I had some bad writer's block on this so I tried to work on other stuff for a while.


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